Jauk wrote:I like to write, but sometimes I feel like the well is tapped for my own character. I have to take breaks from RPing Jauk long form and this appears to be one such time. On the other hand, there are a lot of characters I love to see doing things about the city who don't write RPs a whole lot and it makes me sad. I've been pestering the 2 M's about getting Dama and o to get on with it since they unbound a few weeks ago. They won't rush their story and so, with their permission, I wrote my own Dama and ophelia fan fiction as to what I imagine them getting rebound would go like. It was a lot of fun and hopefully I know their characters enough that I wasn't untrue to them too much in favor of how I wished they would act with each other. They're my royal wedding and the LAF crew knows how much I love my royal weddings. So anyway...it's probably really odd to some of you that I did this, but I don't care. My next fan fiction will be Jauk in a universe where she is a teacher at Hogwarts who is in love with her coworker Snape. (Just kidding...maybe)

A Proposal - Part One-Damacus-

Mount Heimdall stood tallest and most intimidating along the skyline of the Agrippa Estates with a sharp pointed top that broke through the clouds and a steep, nearly unclimbable slope. The weather between the bottom and the top was often drastically different and the in-between could be a crap shoot, but if one was willing to put in the work and brave the obstacles it was well worth the trek. These steps took him to this path a thousand times just to drink in the dark and quiet or to think or heal or a combination of it all. The path started easy on the leeward side, sheltered from the winds that could often threaten to blow a less sure foot straight off the side. Grass and plants had long since given up growing along the well-worn way, clearing out a wide berth for their conqueror now as so many of that got in his way often did. Beside the path, however, flowers had already begun to bloom in full with aid from the newly reappearing sun and gentle rains of spring. Fallen petals from the Mountain Magnolia that grew along the slope littered the grounds in celebration of the season they’d been waiting for - finally here at last.

There was a lot of reason to celebrate of late. Though it was spring here in the mountains, for Damacus it was harvest time. Presently his skin was blood stained from collecting on crops he’d long ago planted. With the fruits of his labor well in hand, the time to reap was now passing and the time to grow again just ahead. Each step forward was as if tilling the soil, making way for the roots that would burgeon.

More than halfway up the leeward path the way began to curve and shift windward. Here it became tricky. Lesser men would turn back, and often did, running from the struggle instead of leaning into it as you should. Shielding his eyes in the crook of his elbow he looked up and smiled, seeing that he was almost there. It was as if he barely noticed the narrow cliffside he walked so high along or the thin ice that grew along the way now so near to the sky. When at last he was almost as high as the first layer of clouds he saw his final destination and slowed his pace, taking his time to remember what needed remembering and preparing what had been planned for so long.

His furs about his shoulders, tall and lean, he looked like a bear with the head of a man and boots upon his feet. His dirt stained and wind burned face looked worn from years of fighting, but still somehow gentle as he smiled ahead. There at the end of the path was a small cliff side just large enough for a small bench made of a thick oak wood to sit overlooking all of the Agrippa Estate. Tonight the view was even more breath taking as the bench sat adorned with the slender wisp of red spitfire that he loved with every single part of himself. As the cooler winds blew at them both a bit, blustering with gusto for just a second every now and gain and then fading, he took a seat beside her. Placing one of her small pale hands into his own, which looked enormous in comparison, he looked down at his family’s home just beyond the mountain’s base with pride and gratitude for his many blessings.

The long pause between holding her hand and speaking went unnoticed between the two of them who had turned to exchange sheepish smiles usually reserved for new couples. The two loved uninhibited, offering themselves to each other wholly just as they were. For a pair of strong personalities this unfiltered offering usually contained insurmountable passion and unyielding fury in the same cup which they drank of freely and fully, accepting both things. If he were this mountain that dared no one to climb she was the path that made its way despite it and grew flowers and trees along the way to add beauty and grace. If he was the terrible deep of the sea, unmoved by winds and unbroken by shores, she was the gentle radiance of the moon that pulled at his core. As only life can conquer death and death intern spurn life, so only he was meant for ophelia and she to be his wife. His head was heavy with these thoughts and so he rested it against his love’s, leaning down to press his forehead to hers with a soft sigh of bittersweet contentment. The sweetness was his love for her and the bitterness was the things that kept them from being married far too long. A wrong he had intended to make right – at this very moment.

Breaking his head away from hers, he did not look up, but instead slid from his place beside her to his bended knee before her. Still holding her hand in his, his other took her other and combined them into a pile on her lap intertwining all the many fingers like roots of an old tree. Saltly, beard hidden lips pressed against the soft skin of her hands and remained pressed against them for a short moment before his head raised high again to look upon her face. The wind was kind in these moments and despite their chilling bite every long while, they remained mostly quiet and toothless while he spoke with the low and gravelly voice that he reserved for serious conversations.

“ophelia, this is long overdue and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t upset that it needed to happen at all. When we first met it was instant lightening and like always happens after lightening then there came the thunder and you were scared away. Many great relationships have sunk amidst the storm, but ours is no summer cruise as I am the Father of Storms and you are the untamed, awe-inspiring sea. Our bond is one that gives and takes, two equals sharing an existence while also unique and true to ourselves.

Your place in my history and my future is already written in stone and I see no separating my love from you at any time there within. I know why we are not married now: we’ve talked about it and fought about it and then talked some more and there are no more words that need to be said. I do not see you as mine or me yours, but I kneel here before you asking you to have me and keep me as I will you. I do not want to rule you, but share in ruling with you. I do not want to own you, but to protect you as my own. I do not want to steal what is yours, but take what you have and multiple it. I do not want to bind you to me, but to weave the strings of our lives together into one strand so unbreakable the Norns could not undo it. What will you say?”

It was often hard to find the right piece of paper in her office amidst all of the files, décor and work in various stages of completion. It wasn’t that the room was messy, but very purposefully placed to best contain the never-ending tasks and sometimes she’d forget where those perfect places were for some things. Behind a still thriving cactus she was proud to see blossoming its first flower and under a pile of papers labeled 'missed calls' were a stack of scrolls neatly stored in a bin. A small white bunny peaked its head through the cracked office door and peered at her for a moment before little hands she recognized as Ani’s snatched it back away, the two scampering down the halls as Ani’s sang a hello and goodbye. With a pen clenched between her teeth and hands full of scrolls she grunted sweetly in reply, but wasn’t confident Ani would have heard her. As she placed the bin of scrolls down somewhere else, somewhere better, she took just one and unfolded it while this time a large goat came through the cracked door.

“Braaaaaah! Brrraa—AAAAH!” It called out happily and then startled as another pair of hands pulled at this animal’s neck, Jauk’s this time, and yanked it out of the office. “Ani thinks her bunny is faster than my goat. Promise I’ll clean up the poop in the halls later! Byeeeeee!” The high, purposefully shrill voice sang down the hall, a protesting goat crying out over it. Dainty fingers had worked the pen violently about her long red hair, twirling it like spaghetti on a fork into a sort of knotty bun on the top of her head while Jauk happened. Her face shook back and forth with an eye roll, causing a few wild strands to fall against her nose. She blew at them aggressively, jutting her lower lip out against her upper and wincing up her face. A furry orange paw began to bat at the strings of red from atop a filing cabinet behind her, but mostly just hit the short woman in the face gently.

Somewhere in her chest her skin tightened from the chaos of her home’s daily activity and she could feel the tension moving up to her face as it began to do that odd blinking tick it often did. An intercom crackled from ophelia’s desk as a soft voice snickered from its speakers, “He likes you, but not your face I think. Maybe don’t make it so punchable…and stop doing that thing with your eyes like you’re going to snap.” Squeezing her eyes shut and clenching the scroll in her fists she whined loudly back at Nemesis’ taunting, “I AM GOING TO SNAP!” All the fuss felt a bit too much for Thomas who leap from the filing cabinet and sauntered out of the room in a snit. Nemesis’ smile could be heard through her voice despite her not being near. “I love you!” Defeated, the red head relaxed and let her lips curl into a smile as well, returning the words to her LP with earnestness and adding, “And stop watching me with your hidden nanny cams!”

It took so long to do this one simple thing, unroll a scroll of teleportation and read the scrawling words etched inside. In the rare 2 seconds of quite not a moment was wasted, her thoughts focusing quickly on the location she’d had in mind and in a few tingling moments her body sat upon an oak bench in the cold. As blue eyes focused on the new surroundings she had to blink a few times; the lights from the Agrippa Estates below looking like light flares as water welled in her eyes from the stinging wind. It was good that her hair was up, but not so good that she’d forgotten a jacket, her body tensing again - this time from the high cliffside chill of Mount Heimdall. Fortunately, the wait for would be short; before long she felt him nearing and warmth began to return to her.

It wasn’t odd for him to ask her to meet him here, they’d come here together many times before, but it was the tone in which he asked. She couldn’t look back at him and instead waited for him to sit beside her, taking her hand in his. All the tension and stresses in her body began to fade, forgetting even all the things that needed her down in the small town below. Their eyes met then and part of her wanted to lean forwards and kiss him, but something heavy held her back and instead she only smiled nervous and blushing from the thoughts. She couldn’t kiss him just now. Were they about to have another talk? Her heart was exhausted from all of the work they’d been putting in building up their love into something they both could bear without being crushed. It wanted to just rest now, a quiet moment on a bench hand in hand and nothing more, though that was not what this was, she knew.

The ground beneath her bare feet crunched a bit as her toes curled into it and stroked it in a sort of fidgety way. A recent rainfall was a light snow up here near the top of Mount Heimdall, crystallizing the moss and clover that grew against the rock. Over the smell of fresh, cold mountain air and earthy greens was the virile odor of aged whiskey, spicy cigars, and rusty blood as he leaned his head against hers. It was an intoxicating fragrance for her who had come to associate his scents with some of her happiest memories. Now they worked like Pavlov’s bell against her senses, a wicked trick he was likely very aware of. Minutes passed as she calmed her spirit by resting against him this way, enjoying an unhurried tender moment that required nothing more than just being.

It was getting late, but neither of them noticed and instead of moving to leave Damacus appeared to prefer to make himself even more comfortable. Sliding to kneel in front of her she looked down upon the top of his braided head adoringly while he worked their hands into a unified appendage against her lap. At first she thought nothing of it, beyond the sweetness, but then quickly found her lungs taking in a sharp breath of air as the awareness set in. Suddenly she felt very vulnerable, her emotions springing up in her like so many weeds that could not be kept up with as she tried to get rid of them before they grew out of hand. Lips red as her hair pressed against each other hard, trying to use the pain as a distraction so that she maybe might not cry like the ball of raw emotions she always was with him.

He spoke of his love for her and plans for their new life, each word acting like an ax and hammer against every wall she’d placed between them in the past. Every oath he swore was like a warrior sieging her heart and planting its flag, claiming his home there and finding no more resistance. Her chin jutted up attempting to use gravity to hold in the tears now, but then it fell back down again in surrender, this process repeating a few times as her head nodded yes to all the things he had said. Finally he asked, “What will you say?” and her hands were holding the sides of his face pulling him to her still nodding head as tears of joy rained from her eyes. “I will say yes to you always. To having and keeping, sharing and protecting, taking and multiplying, and to joining our blood into one that can never be separated again after. Yes to the good and the bad, yes even when it’s hard, yes especially because it is worth it.”